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Thursday, 20 July 2017

Summer is just the best time...

This last week, Lynne Mizera joined me here in the studio for some leaf play.

We ran 'leaf sandwiches' through the Sizzix machine using a variety of papers:

You can see the mottled green cardstock did NOT take a print too well!

Dusty Miller foliage on watercolour paper

Top: grasses on printer paper Bottom: grasses on watercolour paper

Japanese Maple on watercolour paper

Horse chestnut leaves on Strathmore cardstock

Virginia Creeper leaves on Stonehenge paper

When the leaves came off the Sizzix machine, we put them to another use, taking the Gelli plates for the run. As is usual, the first print is less than exciting, leaving white gaps where the leaves have been,

Lynne's monoprints

but the ghost prints are truly lovely. I love how they pick up shadow colours from previous prints to add to the colour lusciousness.

These ghost prints will need very little enhancement to complete them, and the organic richness is fabulous, don't you think?

The first prints will be fun, too, since some of that doodling time is coming in handy as I fill in the empty spaces.

I'd love to know how you play with leaves in the summer. Do you paint on them? Do you print them? Emboss them? Use them as stamps? Do tell in the comments below, and if you have a link to some photos, we'd love that too!

24 comments:

Thanks, Shirley - that was a truly fun day with all that lovely summer organicness going on! It's hot, sunny and smoky here in BC, so a pretty normal summer. ;-) I do hope you're getting settled as you wait for your new home to be built. Happy summer! xo

I love your leaf prints. I love leaf printing. I'm in a long, uncreative place right now. Missing this kind of play.I love, love LOVE the Japanese Maple on watercolour paper. Second favourite: Virginia Creeper leaves on Stonehenge paper!It's terrific that you used different colours to doodle on the empty spaces.

Our leaf play was really fun, and experimenting with such a variety of papers and leaves was terrific...I can see that one could get really carried away with it. I love the Japanese Maple as well, although the grass on watercolour paper was a close second for their lovely lines.

Doodling on the spaces fit right in with my current obsession; maybe that will come to an end if I fill in all the empty spaces on these first prints of leaves! :D

I adore nature prints and these are fabulous...beautiful work all. One thing you might like to try place a flower or a petal design on face up on a firm surface like a board, cover it with a piece of muslin or sheeting and then pound it over evenly with a mallet. This leaves the flowers imprint in the cloth.(Violas or pansies thinner flowers with small centers and a single layer of petals work best) I did this once with a girls craft group it was easy and they loved it.

You're reading my mind again, Deann - there is a fibre artist in town who does a class in flower pounding on textiles, and I know it would be a blast - and what a great way to get rid of any aggression one has accumulated! ;-) There is something about working with anything organic that just fills the soul.

ohhh, that is one my favorite ways to play!!! i also like to use pine needles and then i cut some very small pinecones with my silhouette and it was fun to make cards. also the little bitty tiny wild violets are just gorgeous. it's such a fun way to play and y'alls play time was extra special for sure!! woop woop

Agreed, Patty - it was a blast. I love playing with anything organic, and the summertime is just the best for it! Love the idea with pine needles-although I've worked with cedar, it hadn't occurred to me to use pine!

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Sal! I had a great look at your site as a result, and am so impressed with your illustrative skills. Wowza! Do play with a Sizzix when you get a chance - they're great fun!

Those Japanese maples are gorgeous! And ghost prints - don't you just love them? I almost toss my first prints aside in a rush to get the ghost print as they're usually so much more interesting.Not much fun with leaves going on here as we are in the middle of winter (though only some of the trees lose their leaves, making my mind wonder just which season we are in. Winter without Christmas is just so weird...) No, it's more twigs and logs than leaves as we stoke up the fire.

I'm with you on the ghost prints, Tracy, although I've come to appreciate the first prints for the collage fodder they provide, and one can layer ghost prints over them for a softer look as well.

Your winter sounds truly confusing, with your tree leaves so different in Australia, and I cannot imagine winter without Christmas in the middle (or snow for that matter!). Stoke your fires, and fire up the creativity, I say!

Thanks, Rose - we had a lot of fun and messed up the studio to the max, which is a perfect combination I think! Feathers and leaves? The perfect organic pairing, I think...I'll be watching Rose's Art Garden blog for your results! :D

These are so fun! I would have never thought of putting leaves through the Sizzix - amazing results with the Japanese maple - that's one of my favourite trees - there's one in our garden. The gelli prints are wonderful too and it's lovely to see Lynne's smiling face in your studio!

They're great additions to any card-making project, Zsuzsa and although it takes somewhat more than normal pressure through the Sizzix, it certainly does work. I love the maples and I keep a supply of them dried as well, although I have to be careful not to denude our poor tree. :D